Plan C: Indian Food With a Mango Accent

I’ve posted a couple times on the importance of having a Plan B prepared when venturing out to eat at a restaurant. After the experience my wife and I had this past Friday, I may want to revise that to having a plan B and C. 

We’ve generally made an art form of not going to restaurants during peak hours for many years, but apparently weren’t thinking clearly Friday, when we headed to Bryn Mawr with an early evening dinner in mind. We had settled on a place called Exit 13 that has a menu which includes both cheesesteaks and burgers that appeared to have promise. It didn’t occur to me that a reservation might be necessary until we arrived and found the place overflowing with people and were told by a host that they were booked. 

Plan B was Johnny’s Pizza, also in Bryn Mawr. I posted on their very good cheesesteaks and square pie in April of this year. The intention this time was to try their traditional round pizza, which looks very good in online photos. Unfortunately, we were informed upon entering Johnny’s that they could only offer us cheesesteaks and salads, as they had a several hour backup of pizza orders, it being their busiest time of the week. 

I’d have been fine with having another cheesesteak, but my wife doesn’t eat them. So we stepped back outside onto Lancaster Avenue – which is also US-30 and the Lincoln Highway – and had a very brief discussion on what Plan C should be. We had no desire to keep driving from place to place, and there were other restaurants on the same block as Johnny’s Pizza. One was an Indian restaurant called Ekta that appeared to have plenty of open tables. That became our spontaneous Plan C. 

Ekta has three locations in Philadelphia in addition to the one in Bryn Mawr, but this was our first meal at any of them. It certainly gave a positive first visual impression with a very nice interior. 

The menu had most of the standard fare that is commonly found at American-Indian restaurants with a few intriguing additions.

One of the items we hadn’t seen before was an appetizer simply called a cashew roll. We both like cashews and its description on the menu sounded interesting enough for us to give it a shot. We also requested an order of vegetable samosas to round out our first course. 

For entrees, my wife chose tandoor-baked vegetables, while I opted for mango shrimp. 

We started off the meal with complimentary crispy items that were nicely seasoned and came with a pair of good dipping sauces, one of which was tamarind. 

My wife ordered a mango lassi and I couldn’t resist following her lead – a wise move on my part given how refreshing they were.

When our appetizers arrived, my initial impression of the cashew rolls was that they weren’t what I was expecting. The first bite only amplified that feeling. Their filling was light and fluffy, but had no discernable flavors to speak of. The best part of the dish was the mango dipping sauce that came with it. I’m such a big mango fan that it was enough to salvage an otherwise bland appetizer.

Thankfully, the vegetable samosas did not disappoint. They had a perfectly fried coating that was packed with an abundance of tasty curried potatoes and peas. 

My wife’s tandoor-baked vegetables had enough visual appeal even for a meat-lover like me. I didn’t taste it, but she seemed happy with the dish.

The mango shrimp that I ordered came in a heavily seasoned tomato-cream sauce and included small chunks of mango. 

While there wasn’t much mango flavor in the sauce itself, the chunks of it worked well both texturally and taste-wise, and there were plenty of shrimp. I was extremely satisfied and full after finishing off most of it over basmati rice. 

We’ll eventually give another shot to trying Exit 13 and the pizza at Johnny’s – preferably with a reservation or at least at an off-peak hour. 

But as far as spontaneous Plan Cs go, Friday’s dinner at Ekta worked out pretty well.